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Four members of one family, including two young children, died in a fire that broke out early Sunday at a church facility in Nonoichi, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Sunday morning.
According to police, flames were seen coming from a two-story wooden residence at the Tenrikyo religious facility at around 5 a.m.
Police identified the victims as Ayako Takabuchi, 37, her two sons Yoshiaki, 4, and Tomoyuki, 2, and her mother Harumi Tatematsu, 68.
The family had built the church next to their home, police said
© Japan Today/AFP
8 Comments
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WilliB
I´´d never heard of Tenrikyo before, but looking it up I find is a pretty friendly and agreeable belief system. Those who always parrot the slogan that "all religions are the same" should take a read. You can be sure we won´t see a Tenrikyo suicide bomber anytime soon.
nath
Semantics do no count when death is the issue.
RIP no matter what kind of building took your life away.
A.N. Other
At a stab, and in its broadest sense, I think the building in question would be best described as a "rectory".
spbpb
I've a few Tenri friends in Japan and I've been to their "churches". Usually, the actual place of worship is attached to the dwelling of the family that administers that branch of Tenri. Imagine a traditional church with a traditional house tacked on where the pastor and her family live. You can walk from a bedroom to the shrine without going outside.
Zybster is right that English doesn't have a good word to describe that kind of building. Although facility makes you think of some kind of compound, when in reality, a typical Tenri church from the outsides looks just like a bigger than normal traditional Japanese house.
However, Zybster, I'd mention that although it's aesthetics and instruments and rituals are influenced by Shinto, it's misleading to say Tenri is "based" on Shinto. Tenri is a monotheistic religion with an inspired profit that started kind of on its own. The actual beliefs of Tenri and Shinto have nothing to do with each other.
toshiko
There are many different religeon in Japan. this ine, according to article, TenriKyo church the family built to next door.
Zybster
Disillusioned, in general understanding the word "church" is related to the Christianity. In this case it is Tenri-kyo, a new religion based on Shintoism. The place of worship for Shinto believers is called in English a "shrine". However, the building that caught fire is not a shrine in a traditional sense. The English word has no appropriate word for the building for Tenri-kyo, thus it's called "a religious facility."
Besides, here they are talking about a "residence", which in any case shouldn't be called "church", regardless of what religion it might be.
Disillusioned
What the heck is a religious facility? Was it a synagogue, a mosk, a stone henge? A sad tale indeed, but why can't they say it was a church?
Tessa
This is terribly, terribly sad, but what does religion have to do with it?